Method and apparatus for setting up uplink common bearer in wireless communication network

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for setting up an UpLink common bearer shared by a plurality of User Equipments (UEs) in a wireless communication network is provided. The apparatus includes a Serving GateWay (S-GW) for receiving a group identifier of a UE from a Mobility Management Entity (MME), sending a create bearer request message including the group identifier to a Packet Data Network (PDN) GateWay (P-GW), receiving a create bearer response message including UL common S5 bearer information (UL common S5 info) for a group corresponding to the group identifier from the P-GW, and sending a create bearer response message including UL common S1 bearer information (UL common S1 info) to the MME, and the P-GW for receiving the create bearer request message from the S-GW, and generating and sending the create bearer response message including the UL common S5 info.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a division application of a prior application Ser.No. 13/743,941, filed on Jan. 17, 2013, which claimed the benefit under35 U.S.C. §119(a) of a U.S. Patent application filed Nov. 3, 2010 in theU.S. Patent and Trademark Office and assigned Ser. No. 12/938,517, whichissued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,379,657 on Feb. 19, 2013, and of a Koreanpatent application filed on Nov. 6, 2009 in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office and assigned Serial number 10-2009-0107056, the entiredisclosure of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a wireless communication network. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatusfor setting up an uplink common bearer in a wireless communicationnetwork.

2. Description of the Related Art

The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) refers to a 3^(rd)generation communication system that is based on Global System forMobile Communications (GSM) and General Packet Radio Services (GPRS),and employs a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) scheme. The3^(rd) Generation Partnership Projects (3GPP) responsible for thestandardization of UMTS has proposed the Evolved Packet System (EPS)evolution of UMTS, such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. LTE isa technology for implementing high-speed packet-based communication.

FIG. 1 illustrates an architecture of a wireless communication networkaccording to the related art. Referring to FIG. 1, the typical wirelesscommunication network may include a macro enhanced Node B (macro eNB)102, a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 104, a Serving GateWay (S-GW)106, a Packet Data Network (PDN) GateWay (P-GW) 108, and a UserEquipment (UE) 100.

The macro eNB 102 is a Node B that is in charge of a macro cell. Withregard to this, although the macro cell refers to a cell in a typicalcellular system, and the macro eNB 102 refers to a Node B for managingand controlling the macro cell, the macro cell and the macro eNB may beused so as to have the same meaning in the present disclosure forconvenience in explanation. Therefore, in the following, the macro eNBand the macro cell will be collectively referred to as the macro eNB102.

The macro eNB 102 is connected to the UE 100 over a radio channel, andcontrols the radio resources of that connection. For example, the macroeNB 102 may generate control information, which is required within amacro cell, as system information and broadcast the generated systeminformation, or may allocate radio resources in order totransmit/receive data or control information to/from the UE 100.Further, the macro eNB 102 may collect channel measurement resultinformation for a current cell and neighbor cells from the UE 100 tothereby determine if a handover is needed, and may instruct the UE 100to perform the handover if needed. To this end, the macro eNB 102 isprovided with a control protocol for radio resource control, such as aradio resource control protocol.

The MME 104 manages and controls a UE in an idle mode, and selects theS-GW 106 and the P-GW 108. In addition, the MME 104 performs roaming andauthentication-related functions. The MME 104 also processes a bearersignal generated in the UE 100.

The S-GW 106 serves as a mobility anchor when a UE is handed overbetween macro eNBs or moves between 3GPP radio networks.

The P-GW 108 assigns an Internet Protocol (IP) address to the UE 100,performs packet data-related functions of a core network, and serves asa mobility anchor when the UE 100 moves between a 3GPP radio network anda non-3GPP radio network. Further, the P-GW 108 determines a bearer bandto be provided to a subscriber, and is responsible for forwarding androuting functions for packet data.

With regard to this, the interface between the macro eNB 102 and theS-GW 106 is referred to as the S1 interface, and the interface betweenthe S-GW 106 and the P-GW 108 is referred to as the S5 interface.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, subscription information according to UEsis stored in a Home Subscriber Server (HSS). When the UE 100 accessesthe wireless communication network, the HSS transfers data regarding theUE 100 to the MME 104 so as to enable the MME 104 to use thecorresponding data for control of the UE 100.

When the UE 100 is connected to the macro eNB 102, it accesses a datanetwork, such the Internet, by using a data transmission path 110 viathe macro eNB 102, the S-GW 106, and the P-GW 108.

FIG. 2 illustrates a bearer setup in which UEs transmit data throughuplink bearers for the respective UEs in a wireless communicationnetwork according to the related art.

Referring to FIG. 2, the UpLink (UL) bearers for UE 1 to UE 6 200 to 210are separate bearers that are controlled by the network respectively. Inthe case of the UL bearer for UE 1 200, for example, the UL radio bearer222 for UE 1 is connected to the UL S1 bearer 224 for UE 1 at an eNB212, and the UL S1 bearer 224 for UE 1 is, in turn, connected to a P-GW218 through the UL S5 bearer 226 for UE 1 that is connected to the UL S1bearer 224 for UE 1 at an S-GW 216. Consequently, data transmitted by UE1 200 is transmitted to an IP network 220 via the UL radio bearer 222for UE 1 (UL radio bearer for each UE)—the eNB 212—the UL S1 bearer 224for UE 1 (UL S1 bearer for each UE)—the S-GW 216—the UL S5 bearer 226for UE 1 (UL S5 bearer for each UE)—the P-GW 218. The UL bearers for theother UEs, that is, UE 2 202 to UE 6 210, are also connected to the IPnetwork 220 in the same manner as described for the UL bearer for UE 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow of setting up bearers for respective UEs andtransmitting/receiving data through the bearers in a wirelesscommunication network according to the related art.

Referring to FIG. 3, the wireless communication network shown in FIG. 3includes a UE 300, an eNB 302, an MME 304, an S-GW 306, a P-GW 308, andan HSS 310. First, in step 312, the UE 300 sends an attach requestmessage to the eNB 302. Upon receiving the attach request message, theeNB 302 delivers the attach request message to the MME 304 in step 314.In step 316, the MME 304 sends an update location request message to theHSS 310 to thereby report the identification information of the MME 304serving the subscriber of the UE 300 to the HSS 310 and simultaneouslyrequest the HSS 310 to transfer user subscription data. In step 318, theHSS 310 includes the user subscription data in an update locationACKnowledgment (ACK) message, and delivers the user subscription data tothe MME 304 by sending the update location ACK message to the MME 304.In step 320, the MME 304 sends a create bearer request message to theS-GW 306 to thereby request the S-GW 306 to create a new S1 bearer.

In the wireless communication network, the S-GW 306 and the P-GW 308,according to the related art, set up bearers according to UEs throughcreate bearer request and response messages.

That is, upon receiving the create bearer request message from the MME304, the S-GW 306 sends a create bearer request message, which requeststhe P-GW 308 to generate a UL S5 bearer, along with DownLink (DL) S5bearer information (DL S5 info) to the P-GW 308 in step 322. In step324, the P-GW 308 then sends a create bearer response message, which isin response to the create bearer request message in step 322, along withUL S5 bearer information (UL S5 info) to the S-GW 306. In this way, theUL S5 bearer information and the DL S5 bearer information are shared byboth the S-GW 306 and the P-GW 308, and thus it can be said that the S5bearer for UE 300 has been created.

After the S5 bearer has been created between the S-GW 306 and the P-GW308, in step 326, the S-GW 306 sends a create bearer response message,which is in response to the create bearer request message for S1 bearercreation in step 320, along with UL S1 bearer information (UL S1 info)to the MME 304. In step 328, the MME 304 then sends a UE context setuprequest message, which requests the eNB 302 to transfer UE contextinformation (UE context info) required for the eNB 302 to provideservice to the UE 300, such as security information and mobilityrestriction information for the UE 300, along with the UL S1 info to theeNB 302. The eNB 302 performs step 330 (Radio Resource Control (RRC)connection reconfiguration) and step 332 (RRC connection reconfigurationcomplete) with the UE 300, thereby creating a radio bearer to be used bythe UE 300. In step 334, the eNB 302 includes DL S1 bearer information(DL S1 info) in a UE context setup response message that is in responseto the UE context setup request message in step 328, and delivers the DLS1 info to the MME 304 by sending the UE context setup response messageto the MME 304. The MME 304 sends an update bearer request messageincluding the DL S1 info to the S-GW 306 in step 336, and receives anupdate bearer response message from the S-GW 306 in step 338, inresponse to the update bearer request message in step 336. In this way,the UL S1 bearer information and the DL S1 bearer information are sharedby both the eNB 302 and the S-GW 306, and thus it can be said that theS1 bearer for UE 300 has been created. Accordingly, in step 340, the UE300 can transmit data to an IP network via the radio bearer (UL radiobearer for each UE)—the eNB 302—the UL S1 bearer (UL S1 bearer for eachUE)—the S-GW 306—the UL S5 bearer (UL S5 bearer for each UE)—the P-GW308.

As seen from FIGS. 2 and 3, according to the related art, each UEindependently maintains its own bearer in the wireless communicationnetwork. The same is the case where a small amount of data, such as analarm message or a power usage result report message, is intermittentlytransmitted, which causes an unnecessary waste of resources becausememory resources, state management resources, and the like to bemaintained in an S-GW and a P-GW are too large for transmitted data.Therefore, in order to improve this problem, there is a need for amethod and apparatus for setting up bearers such that each UE does notindependently maintain its own bearer in a wireless communicationnetwork.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of the present invention is to address at least theabove-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at leastthe advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the presentinvention is to provide a method and apparatus for setting up a commonbearer shared by a plurality of User Equipments (UEs) in a wirelesscommunication network.

Further, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for setting up a common bearer so as to reduce bearermanagement and control overhead in a wireless communication network.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method ofsetting up an UpLink (UL) common bearer in a Serving GateWay (S-GW) of awireless communication network is provided. The method includesreceiving a group identifier of a UE from a Mobility Management Entity(MME), sending a create bearer request message including the groupidentifier to a Packet Data Network (PDN) GateWay (P-GW), receiving acreate bearer response message including UL common S5 bearer information(UL common S5 info) for a group corresponding to the group identifierfrom the P-GW, and sending a create bearer response message including ULcommon S1 bearer information (UL common S1 info) to the MME.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method ofsetting up an UL common bearer in a P-GW of a wireless communicationnetwork is provided. The method includes receiving a create bearerrequest message including a group identifier of a UE from a S-GW, andsending a create bearer response message including UL common S5 info fora group corresponding to the group identifier to the S-GW.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, anapparatus for setting up an UL common bearer in a wireless communicationnetwork is provided. The apparatus includes an S-GW for receiving agroup identifier of a UE from a MME, for sending a create bearer requestmessage including the group identifier to a P-GW, for receiving a createbearer response message including UL common S5 info for a groupcorresponding to the group identifier from the P-GW, and for sending acreate bearer response message including UL common S1 info to the MME,and the P-GW for receiving the create bearer request message from theS-GW, and for generating and sending the create bearer response messageincluding the UL common S5 info.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainexemplary embodiments of the present invention will be more apparentfrom the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an architecture of a wirelesscommunication network according to the related art;

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a bearer setup in which User Equipments(UEs) transmit data through UpLink (UL) bearers for the respective UEsin a wireless communication network according to the related art;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a flow of setting up bearers forrespective UEs and transmitting/receiving data through the bearers in awireless communication network according to the related art;

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a bearer setup in which a plurality of UEstransmit data through a common bearer in a wireless communicationnetwork in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a flow of setting up a common bearershared by a plurality of UEs belonging to the same group, andtransmitting/receiving data through the common bearer in a wirelesscommunication network in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of setting up a commonbearer shared by a plurality of UEs and transmitting/receiving datathrough the common bearer in a wireless communication network inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbersare used to depict the same or similar elements, features, andstructures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplaryembodiments of the present invention as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modifications of the embodiments described hereincan be made without departing from the scope and spirit of theinvention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions andconstructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of theinvention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention is provided for illustration purpose only and not forthe purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claimsand their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a commonbearer may be set up for a specific group of User Equipments (UEs) sothat a plurality of UEs may use one common bearer in a wirelesscommunication network, thereby reducing bearer management and controloverhead.

That is, by setting up a common bearer for a specific group of UEs, anenvironment is provided, in which an unnecessary waste of memoryresources, state management resources, and the like to be maintained inan Serving GateWay (S-GW) and a Packet Data Network (PDN) GateWay (P-GW)can be prevented.

FIG. 4 illustrates a bearer setup in which a plurality of UEs transmitdata through a common bearer in a wireless communication networkaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In FIG.4, it is assumed that UE1 to UE 6 400 to 410 belong to the same group(group 1).

Referring to FIG. 4, the plurality of UEs belonging to the same group(group 1), that is, UE 1 to UE 6 400 to 410, have separate radio bearers(UpLink (UL) radio for UE1, UL radio for UE2, UL radio for UE3, UL radiofor UE4, UL radio for UE5, and UL radio for UE 6) respectively, butshare one UL S1 bearer (UL S1 bearer for group 1) 424 and one UL S5bearer (UL S5 bearer for group 1) 426 with each other. Therefore, whencompared to the related art wireless communication network in FIG. 2, itcan be noted that the number of bearers to be managed by an S-GW 416 anda P-GW 418 is reduced from 6 (corresponding to the total number of UEs)to 1, and thus resources can also be saved accordingly.

To this end, exemplary embodiments of the present invention propose amethod and apparatus for setting up a common bearer for a specific groupof UEs in a wireless communication network, which will be described inmore detail in the following exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow of setting up a common bearer shared by aplurality of UEs belonging to the same group, and transmitting/receivingdata through the common bearer in a wireless communication networkaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the wireless communication network shown in thedrawing includes a UE 500, an enhanced Node B (eNB) 502, a MobilityManagement Entity (MME) 504, an S-GW 506, a P-GW 508, and a HomeSubscriber Server (HSS) 510. First, in step 512, the UE 500 sends anattach request message to the eNB 502. Upon receiving the attach requestmessage from the UE 500, the eNB 502 delivers the attach request messageto the MME 504 in step 514. In step 516, the MME 504 sends an updatelocation request message to the HSS 510 to thereby report theidentification information of the MME 504 serving the subscriber of theUE 500 to the HSS 310 and simultaneously request the HSS 310 to transferuser subscription data. In step 518, the HSS 510 includes the usersubscription data and the group IDentifier (ID) of a group, to which theUE 500 belongs, in an update location ACKnowledgement (ACK) message, anddelivers the user subscription data and the group ID to the MME 504 bysending the update location ACK message to the MME 504. With regard tothis, the group ID may be delivered to the MME 502 by being carried bythe attach request message in steps 512 and 514, and specificinformation for identifying the UE 500, for example, a part of anInternational Mobile Subscription Identity (IMSI) or an InternationalMobile Entity Identity (IMEI) may serves as the group ID. In step 520,the MME 504 sends a create bearer request message, which requests theS-GW 506 to create a new S1 bearer, along with the group ID to the S-GW506.

In the wireless communication network according to the exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, the S-GW 506 and the P-GW 508 setup a common bearer, which is shared by a plurality of UEs belonging tothe same group, through create bearer request and response messages.

That is, upon receiving the create bearer request message from the MME504, the S-GW 506 sends a create bearer request message, which requeststhe P-GW 508 to generate a UL S5 bearer, along with DownLink (DL) S5bearer information (DL S5 info) and the group ID to the P-GW 508 in step522. The P-GW 508 then determines if the UL common S5 bearer for thegroup corresponding to the group ID received in step 522 already exists,and creates a new UL common S5 bearer when the UL common S5 bearer forthe group does not exist. Contrarily, when the UL common S5 bearer forthe group already exists, the P-GW 508 reuses the UL common S5 bearer.In step 524, the P-GW 508 sends a create bearer response message, whichis in response to the create bearer request message in step 522, alongwith UL common bearer S5 information (UL common S5 info) to the S-GW506. In this way, the UL common S5 bearer information and the DL S5bearer information are shared by both the S-GW 506 and the P-GW 508, andthus it can be said that the S5 bearer has been created.

After the common S5 bearer has been created by completing step 524, theS-GW 506 determines if the UL common S1 bearer for the groupcorresponding to the group ID received in step 520 already exists, andcreates a new UL common S1 bearer when the UL common S1 bearer for thegroup does not exist. Contrarily, when the UL common S1 bearer for thegroup already exists, the S-GW 506 reuses the UL common S1 bearer. Instep 526, the S-GW 506 sends a create bearer response message, which isin response to the create bearer request message for S1 bearer creationin step 520, along with UL common bearer S1 information (UL common S1info) to the MME 504. In step 528, the MME 504 then sends a UE contextsetup request message, which requests the eNB 502 to transfer UE contextinformation (UE context info) required for the eNB 502 to provideservice to the UE 500, such as security information and mobilityrestriction information for the UE 500, along with the UL common S1 infoto the eNB 502. The eNB 502 performs step 530 (Radio Resource Control(RRC) connection reconfiguration) and step 532 (RRC connectionreconfiguration complete) with the UE 500, thereby creating a radiobearer to be used by the UE 500. In step 534, the eNB 502 includes DLbearer S1 information (DL S1 info) in a UE context setup responsemessage that is in response to the UE context setup request message instep 528, and delivers the DL S1 info to the MME 504 by sending the UEcontext setup response message to the MME 504. The MME 504 sends anupdate bearer request message including the DL S1 info to the S-GW 506in step 536, and receives an update bearer response message from theS-GW 506 in step 538, in response to the update bearer request messagein step 536. In this way, the UL common S1 bearer information and the DLS1 bearer information are shared by both the eNB 502 and the S-GW 506,and thus it can be said that the common S1 bearer has been created.Accordingly, in step 540, the UE 500 can perform UL data transmission toa data network via the radio bearer—the eNB 502—the UL common S1bearer—the S-GW 506—the UL common S5 bearer—the P-GW 508.

Reference will now be made to a procedure performed between the S-GW 506and the P-GW 508 in steps 522 and 524 in which a common bearer shared bya plurality of UEs belonging to the same group is set up.

FIG. 6 illustrates an operation of the P-GW according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. Herein, the P-GW referred tohereafter may be P-GW 508 of FIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 6, in step 602, the P-GW 508 receives a create bearerrequest message including DL S5 bearer information from the S-GW 506.Then, the P-GW 508 stores the DL S5 bearer information included in thereceived create bearer request message in step 604, and determines instep 606 if a group ID is included in the receive create bearer requestmessage. When a group ID is included in the received create bearerrequest message, the P-GW 508 proceeds to step 608, and determines ifthe UL common S5 bearer for the group corresponding to the group ID hasbeen already created. When, as a result of the determination in step608, the UL common S5 bearer already created for the group does notexist, the P-GW 508 proceeds to step 610, creates a new UL common S5bearer for the group, and then proceeds to step 612. Contrarily, whenthe UL common S5 bearer already created for the group exists, the P-GW508 proceeds from step 608 to step 612. In step 612, the P-GW 508includes the UL common S5 bearer information for the group in a createbearer response message. In step 618, the P-GW 508 sends the createbearer response message to the S-GW 506. In this way, as describedabove, the UL common S5 bearer information and the DL S5 information areshared by both the S-GW 506 and the P-GW 508, and thus it can be saidthat the S5 bearer has been created.

Returning to step 606, when a group ID is not included in the createbearer request message, the P-GW 508 proceeds to step 614, and performsthe same operation as that of the related art for setting up bearers forrespective UEs. That is, the P-GW 508 creates UL S5 bearers forrespective UEs in step 614, and includes information on the UL S5bearers for respective UEs in a create bearer response message in step616, and then sends the create bearer response message including theinformation on the UL S5 bearers for respective UEs to the S-GW 506.

As described above, the exemplary embodiments of the present inventionprovide an environment in which an unnecessary waste of memoryresources, state management resources, and the like to be maintained innetwork nodes, that is, an S-GW and a P-GW, can be prevented by settingup a common bearer shared by a plurality of UEs. Various other effectsobtained from the exemplary embodiments of the present invention aredirectly or implicitly disclosed in the above detailed description ofexemplary embodiments of the present invention.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference tocertain exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of setting up an uplink (UL) commonbearer in a serving gateway (S-GW) of a wireless communication network,the method comprising: receiving a group identifier of a user equipment(UE) from a mobility management entity (MME); transmitting a createbearer request message including the group identifier to a packet datanetwork (PDN) gateway (P-GW); receiving a create bearer response messageincluding UL common bearer information for a group corresponding to thegroup identifier from the P-GW; and transmitting the create bearerresponse message to the MME, wherein the group identifier is transmittedfrom a home subscriber server (HSS) to the MME when the HSS hascompleted an update location process.
 2. The method as claimed in claim1, wherein the group identifier comprises one of an international mobilesubscriber identity (IMSI) and an international mobile entity identity(IMEI).
 3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the create bearerrequest message sent to the P-GW further includes downlink (DL) bearerinformation.
 4. A method of setting up an uplink (UL) common bearer in apacket data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW) of a wireless communicationnetwork, the method comprising: receiving a create bearer requestmessage including a group identifier of a user equipment (UE) from aserving gateway (S-GW); determining if the UL common bearer for a groupcorresponding to the group identifier already exists; creating, when theUL common bearer for the group does not exist, a new UL common bearerfor the group and including information on the created UL common bearerin the create bearer response message; and transmitting the createbearer response message to the S-GW, wherein the group identifier istransmitted from a home subscriber server (HSS) to the S-GW via amobility management entity (MME) when the HSS has completed an updatelocation process.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein thecreate bearer request message received from the S-GW further includesdownlink (DL) bearer information, and wherein the method furthercomprises storing the DL bearer information included in the createbearer request message received from the S-GW.
 6. The method as claimedin claim 4, wherein the method further comprises including, when the ULcommon bearer for the group already exists, information the UL commonbearer that already exists in the create bearer response message.
 7. Themethod as claimed in claim 6, wherein the group identifier comprises oneof an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) and aninternational mobile entity identity (IMEI).
 8. An apparatus of settingup an uplink (UL) common bearer in a serving gateway (S-GW) of awireless communication network, the apparatus comprising: a receiverconfigured to receive a group identifier of a user equipment (UE) from amobility management entity (MME); a controller configured to create acreate bearer request message including the group identifier; and atransmitter configured: to transmit the create bearer request message toa packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), and to transmit a createbearer response message including UL common bearer information for agroup corresponding to the group identifier to the MME, wherein thegroup identifier is transmitted from a home subscriber server (HSS) tothe MME when the HSS has completed a update location process.
 9. Theapparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the group identifier comprisesone of an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) and aninternational mobile entity identity (IMEI).
 10. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 8, wherein the create bearer request message sent tothe P-GW further includes downlink (DL) bearer information.
 11. Anapparatus of setting up an uplink (UL) common bearer in a packet datanetwork (PDN) gateway (P-GW) of a wireless communication network, theapparatus comprising: a receiver configured to receive a create bearerrequest message including a group identifier of a user equipment (UE)from a serving gateway (S-GW); a controller configured: to determine ifthe UL common bearer for a group corresponding to the group identifieralready exists, to create, when the UL common bearer for the group doesnot exist, a new UL common bearer for the group, and to includeinformation on the created UL common bearer in the create bearerresponse message; and a transmitter configured to transmit the createbearer response message to the S-GW, wherein the group identifier istransmitted from a home subscriber server (HSS) to the S-GW via amobility management entity (MME) when the HSS has completed an updatelocation process.
 12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein thecreate bearer request message received from the S-GW further includesdownlink (DL) bearer information, and wherein the apparatus furthercomprises a memory for storing the DL bearer information included in thecreate bearer request message received from the S-GW.
 13. The apparatusas claimed in claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured toinclude, when the UL common bearer for the group already exists,information the UL common bearer that already exists in the createbearer response message.
 14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13,wherein the group identifier comprises one of an international mobilesubscriber identity (IMSI) and an international mobile entity identity(IMEI).